Hades Nephew
by Kagelu
Summary: Occurs after the Hades Arc. With the end of the Holy War, Hades revived his warriors and set about restoring the Underworld. That was when an envoy from his brother Poseidon came to enquire about a certain traitorous Gemini twin. And Hades show no one knows souls like the lord of the underworld. Only canon characters.


Hades' nephew

The end of another Holy War. Again. To the mortals it was a doomsday scenario that brought with it much tears, blood and death. To the underworld, it was merely an annoyance at the end of the day. Afterall, there was no way that mortals could ever kill death. Thus once the dust settled and the place cleared of all Athena's saints, the Lord of the Underworld merely revived himself and his followers and set about putting all in order again till the next holy war.

Understandably, it was a busy time. Thus Mino was annoyed when he heard his fellow judge Rhadamanthys had taken up a new hobby.

Mino shook his head when he caught sight of Rhadamanthys standing like a statue upon the cliffs overlooking the view of the river Styx.

It was unusual for such a high ranking Spectre like Rhadamanthys to be so near the entrance of Hades. It was making the lower ranks nervous but at least Mino admitted it done wonders on the work efficiency.

Unfortunately, with all the rebuilding work that needed to be done after the recent holy war with Athena they really couldn't afford for Rhadamathys to take up a new obsession right now.

Noisily he cleared his throat before speaking.

'I wish you would get over that obsession over that gold Gemini saint. This is not the first time, nor is it likely the last time that we will wage war with the warriors of Athena'

Rhadamanthys looked over his shoulder at his friend. 'But it makes no sense, he should be here by now. Unless he lived, which is unlikely, after that suicide attack. I am only here as Lord Hades had graciously decided to grant me life anew.'

'You wonder too much Rhadam…'

Something caught the other's attention and he turned away, effectively cutting Mino off.  
Mino ignored his friend's rudeness and continued to lecture.

'For one of the wise judges of Hades, you are acting rather foolish Rhadamanths'

'Perhaps I am, for if my eyes do not deceive me. A living being has just stepped onto the shore.'

Mino's relax stance vanished immediately. He hurried to stand beside his fellow Judge and there standing below them was a figure wearing the scales of one of the Marina Generals of the Sea God.

To his surprise, the Marina General stood and looked up straight at them.

Rhadamanthys muttered, 'He seems to be waiting. Come, let's us be a good host and see what he wants.'

Minos could already feel an oncoming headache so he merely nodded in reply.

Much later, trapped in their Lord's audience chamber, the headache became a very painful reality.

In hindsight, Mino regretted not allowing the impulsive Aiacos who had joined them to attack the Sea General on sight before Hades sama's order arrived, commanding they bring the Sea General to the audience chamber.

Mino's headache steadily increased as he sat uneasily in his seat inside Hades audience chamber. The Siren Sea General gave a beautiful performance; however it only served to worsen the mood of the three judges who remembered the similar incident with Orpheus.

Finally as the last few notes died away, their Master spoke.

'As much as it warms my heart at Poseidon's concern for me, I doubt he would send his favourite Sea General to the underworld just for a social call. Now, tell me your purpose quickly. I have an underworld to rebuild and do not have time to humour my fool of a brother.'

'This time it was Sorrento's turn to hold back the impulse to attack. There were slight clanks of metal from Rhadamanthys and his colleagues as they shifted into alertness. The three judges poised to tear Sorrento to pieces for the first sign of aggression on the Sea General's part.

Head bowed low to hide his anger, Sorrento delivered the message as instructed. 'The Lord of the Waves wishes to enquire as to the punishment for the traitor formerly known as Sea Dragon or currently known as Kanon of Gemini.'

Rhadamanthys, stunned at the name of his nemesis reacted slower that Aiacos who growled in anger. 'What business do another god have in Lord Hades' dominion?'

Sorrento bowed low and when he next spoke, everyone could hear the slight rise in his tone. 'The younger Gemini twin, the man who dared to fool a god and betray another. By the ancient laws, any normal mortal who even attempted either of these would be given special treatment of a hell customized just for them. Especially if they are such infamous individuals like Kanon of Gemini.'

At that statement, all turned their attention towards the Lord of the Underworld. That was when everyone was shock to discover that the two subordinate gods Thantos and his brother Hypnos had arrived. One stood on each side of their lord.

It was Thantos who spoke, 'You think to know the laws of Hades then you know nothing mortal. Well, if you came all the way here to seek redress against that man, he is not here.'

'WHAT?!' The minds of the mortals in the room whirled at this statement. Did this mean that Gemini Kanon had cheated death again?!'

'To be precise, his soul will never arrive here.'

Sorrento struggled to regain his composure. 'But that man, he…'

A rich, deep voice echoed through the chamber. 'I know very well what he did.'

Everyone's attention was captured by Hades immediately.

'Do not use the transgressions committed during the recent holy wars as your argument. IF we start counting those too, all the holy warriors, spectres, saints and marinas are guilty of offending a god or goddess including yourself.'

Here the sea general started to sulk. The three judges looked at each other, Lord Hades comment surprised them and… was there a note of boredom?

Hades noticed the confusion in the audience chamber, elaborated.

'In the service of the deity they sworn loyalty to, all warriors fought the will of another on orders. Thus it is agreed that transgressions committed during the Holy Wars will be considered void. Besides, even I admit I have an unfair advantage since all humans dies eventually. Or do you wish to get a taste of the handiwork of my judges? Highly irregular but if it helps them vent their recent frustrations, I can have it arranged.'

This time, the judges fought to keep their stern expressions at Sorrento's horrified expression.

'But, but Lord Hades…'

Hades spoke at this point, impatience laced his words.

'Tell my second brother this when you return. As an elder of the clan, one would expect him to conduct himself with more dignity than repeatedly getting into skirmishes and petty arguments with his nephews! First that ridiculous trial of Halirrhothius and now this! '

Sorrento could not contain his surprise.

'Nephews? Ahh, are we not discussing Kanon of Gemini. Not Athena?'

Hades curled his lips in disgust. 'Of course we are not discussing Athena, we are discussing…wait, you moron.'

The King of the Underworld expression rapidly shifted from annoyance to dark amusement. Hypnos gave a snort and Thantos spoke up.

'He doesn't know~! Oh the fates, this is most amusing my lord.' Thantos cooed.

Hypnos smirked. 'Now, now brother. This is the sea god after all and brother to Lord Hades. Perhaps he knew and sent this General on a fool's errand to test his loyalty.

That was when it happened. A slight chuckle, then to the horror of spectres, marina and the twin gods alike, Hades laughed.

It was a full deep laughter of pure amusement. Thantos and Hypnos stared unbelievably at this lord who had not laughed since the time of Myth.

The judges wondered if they had offended Lord Hypnos and were now in some surreal nightmare as punishment for the loss of the war.

When it was over, Hades face returned to it's normal passive expression but the air of amusement was still there. 'I had forgotten how fleet mortal memories are and it appears this particular brother too it seems. Hypno! Explain to this mortal in terms he could understand.'

Hypno bowed to his lord then turned to face the Sea General.

'You have heard the legend of the Gemini Constellation is that of the twin heroes Castor and Pollux?'

Sorrento and the judges stared at the god of sleep.

'There is a legend that while the twins share a womb, they do not share a father.'

At the side, Rhadamanthys frown at that, he had heard of this legend too but what did the legend have to do with the current Gemini saint other than the inspiration of the cloth?

'…For one was the son of the mortal husband of Leda and the other was sired by an immortal. Castor the elder was mortal and Pollux the younger was immortal.'

Hypnos started to stroll down the steps of the throne towards Sorrento, never stopping in his narration.

'In the legend, Castor died first in one of the many ways that mortals do and Pollux asked his father for a boon.'

By now the god of sleep had paused in front of the Sea General.

With a sinking sense of dread, Sorrento could only reply. 'And that is…?'

Hypnos stretched his mouth into a toothy smile.

'To share his immortality with his dead brother so that the other might live again. Here, there are more than one version of how the legend ends. In one version, he chose to reincarnate endlessly with his mortal older brother.'

With a flourish, Hypnos smiled and drew back to Hades side.

Sorrento and the judges were trying to make sense of the point of this little tale when Hades dropped the final hint.

'My dear nephew is rather fond of tricks even after his first mortal coil has expired, is he not?'

That was when it hit them. If the younger twin had an immortal father and was the nephew of both Hades and Poseidon, then his father could be only one other. In addition, if the twin had chose to reincarnate and Hades had just called Poseidon out on getting into arguments with his nephew when Kanon of Gemini was mentioned, then Kanon was….!

The implications were enough to leave Sorrento unsteady on his footing. For their part, the judges were all glad they were sitting down.

Sadistic Thantos couldn't resist adding his own comments. 'It is most strange, is it not? The Gemini cloth is always inherited by a set of twins but it is obviously meant to be worn by one.'

Hypnos nodded 'One mortal that it.'

Hades savoured the moment abit longer then announced. 'I trust this will answer my brother's question. Now then, let's us end this audience, amusing through it be. I have an Underworld to restore.'

With a dismissive wave of his hand, the Sea General vanished from the chamber, presumably thrown back out into the mortal world. The judges hurriedly took leave of their lord and left the room.

Left only with the three of them, Hades spoke a final word to his two closest subordinates. 'I have often wondered through, if it was really for the love of his brother that prompted his boon…or the unbearable boredom that a life under his father's Zeus thumb would entail.'


End file.
